Pressure vessels



y 7, 1963 J. MERCIER 3,088,492

PRESSURE VESSELS Original Filed Feb. 11, 1955 INVENTPR kleam fiier'czer' ATTORNEYS United States Patent 7" 3,088,492 PRESSURE VESSELS Jean Mercier, 1185 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. Original application Feb. 11, 1955, Ser. No. 487,610, now Patent No. 2,878,834, dated Mar. 24, 1959. Divided and this application Dec. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 780,868 1 Claim. (Cl. 133-60) This invention relates to the art of pressure vessels and more particularly to the valves therefor.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide valve means for controlling the fluid ports of a pressure vessel, which valve means are dependable in operation and may readily be fabricated at relatively low cost, and are not likely to become deranged even with long use.

According to the invention, these objects are accomplished by the arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claim.

This application is a division of co-pending application, Serial No. 487,610 filed February 11, 1955, now Patent No. 2,878,834.

In the accompanying drawing the single FIGURE shows one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention.

The embodiment shown in the drawing is especially designed for use as a shock alleviator and will permit large volume flow into, the unit and small volume flow out of the unit. The device comprises a container or pressure vessel 11' of strong, rigid material capable of withstanding high pressures, said container being substantially spherical at one end as at 12' and, open at its other end as at 13.

The end 12' of the container has an axial opening 14 defining a liquid port and a closure assembly 15' is associated therewith. The closure assembly comprises a tubular member or sleeve 16 of diameter greater than that of port 14' and affixed with respect thereto as by welding at 18 to the exterior of the container.

Positioned in the container is a valve head 25 of diameter greater than that of opening 14' and having a plurality of small apertures 110 therethrough, said valve head 25' being designed to seat against the inner surface of the container substantially to cut ofii flow from said container.

Means are provided to guide the valve head 25' so that it will move axially with respect to the container. Such means comprises a guide member 27, illustratively a strip of rigid metal substantially U-shaped as shown and having an outwardly extending lateral flange 111 at the end of each of its guide legs 112.

Although the valve head 25' may be alfixed to the guide member 27' in any suitable manner, as illustratively shown, a rivet 113 extends through the valve head 25 and the cross piece 114 of the guide member securely to clamp these elements together.

The distance between the legs 112 is substantially equal to the diameter of opening 14' so that the valve head will be guided with substantially no transverse play and the flanges 111 extending outwardly past the periphery of opening 14' limit the inward movement of the valve head 25 and impart a slight damping action to such inward movement, as liquid is forced into the container.

Positioned in the container 11' is a deformable partition 41 illustratively a collapsible and expansible bladder which desirably is of resilient material such as rubber or synthetic plastic of like physical characteristics.

The bladder has a rim 42 to which an annular supporting member 43' is aflixed, preferably by being bonded thereto or molded therein as illustratively shown. The supporting member 43 is of resilient sheet material such as metal or suitable plastic and has a lower portion 44' 3,088,492 Patented May 7, 1963 and upper portion 45' lying in substantially parallel planes and connected by a substantially horizontal portion 46' which defines an annular shoulder on each side.

The lower portion 44 of the supporting member 43 is molded into the rim 42 of the bladder 41 in such manner that the inner surface of portion 44 has a layer 47' of resilient material thereon which extends slightly past the connecting portion 46 and the outer surface of portion 44' has a layer 48 of resilient material thereon which extends up to the undersurface of the connecting portion 46 and said layer 47' is thinner at its lower extermity than the layer 48. In addition, the lower edge of the lower portion 44 of supporting member 43' is reversely bent as at 109. It is to be understood that the lower portion 44 could be serrated as shown in FIG. 1 or slit as shown in FIG. 4.

The outer diameter of the upper portion 45' of mounting member 43' is slightly less than the inner diameter of the container 11 so that it will readily fit therein and said upper portion 45 has an outwardly extending lateral flange 53 at its upper edge which may seat on an annular shoulder 54 at the open end 13' of the container. The outer diameter of the lower portion 44 of the annular member 43' is such that when the annular member 43' and the bladder aflixed thereto are positioned in the container, the layer 48' of resilient material will be compressed between the lower portion 44' and the opposed wall of the container. The container is closed by means of a substantially cup-shaped cap 115, the outer diameter of the side wall 116 of which is slightly less than the inner diameter of the upper portion 45 of supporting member 43 so that it will wedge snugly therein and the rim 117 of said cap is designed to be spaced from the connecting portion 46' of supporting member 43'.

The cap 115, the container '11 and the supporting member 43' are securely retained together as by welding at 118 to prevent leakage from the container and the bladder.

The assembled unit may be charged with gas under pressure through an axial port 122 in the cap 115. As shown, a mass of self-sealing material 121 such as rubber is amxed to the inner surface of the cap 115, so as to be aligned with port 122, as by means of a retaining plate 123, the latter having an opening 124 aligned with said port.

To prevent extrusion of said self-sealing material 121 from port 122, a ball 125 of rigid material such as steel is molded in said mass 121 and is positioned against a seat 126 for-med by an enlargement of port 122. Thus, when a hollow needle (not shown) is inserted into port 122, it will deflect the ball 125 to the side as it passes through opening 124- into the bladder and gas under pressure may then be forced into the bladder.

When the needle is withdrawn, due to the pressure in the bladder 41' the ball 125 will again be forced against its seat 126 to prevent extrusion of the rubber mass 121.

When liquid under pressure is forced through the tubular member 16, the valve 25' will be moved inwardly away from the periphery of opening 14. As a result, a large volume of liquid may enter the container. Due to the flanges 111, which act as baflles, the inward movement of the valve head will be slightly restrained.

As layer 47 is thinner at its lower end than layer 48', when the bladder is compressed it will readily bend over the reversely bent edge 1% without making a sharp fold which might cause rupture of such bladder with repeated use.

When a valve (not shown) controlling the closure member 15' is opened, due to the large passageway afforded by opening 14' for flow of fluid, the pressure in the tubular member 16' will be less than that in the container 11' with a result that the valve head 25 will seat almost immediately. Thereafter, the only flow from the container will be that through the relatively small openings 110' in valve head 25. The bladder 41 being of rubber or synthetic material of like characteristics, is capable of expansion. As a result, when the periphery of the valve head 25' is seated against the inner wall of the container, flow offluid through the small openings 110 will only occur as the bladder progressively expands and this expansion will continue so long as any fluid can escape through the openings 110'. Clearly, when the bladder completely covers the valve head 25, it will seal the open ings 110.

In addition, as the pressure on the gas in the bladder would be greater than that on the liquid in the container, the pressure on the inner surface of the upper portion 45 of supporting member 43' would force such portion 45' against the wall of the container for enhanced anchorage action which would eliminate some of the strain at the region at which the lower portion 44' of the retaining member is aflixed to the bladder.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claim, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A pressure container having a fluid port at one end and an additional fluid port at the other end, a deformable and expandable partition secured in said container and intervening between said ports, valve means comprising a valve head having a plurality of small openings therethrough, said valve head being axially aligned with said additional fluid port, the diameter of said valve head being greater than the diameter of said additional fluid port, whereby the periphery of said valve head may abut against the inner surface of said container around said additional fluid port, a tubular member affixed to such container and axially aligned with said additional fluid port, a member substantially U-shaped in cross section having a pair of substantially parallel guides extending into said tubular member, said valve head being afiixed to the cross piece of said U-shaped member, the free ends of said parallel guides being outwardly bent, and fixed abutment means against which said free ends abut to limit the inward movement of said valve means into the container, said partition when expanded abutting against said valve head to seal said opemngs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 577,489 Mills Feb. 23, 1897 920,716 Beckrnan May 4, 1909 1,375,891 Bender Apr. 26, 1921 1,974,378 Nicoll Sept. 18, 1934 2,564,023 Miller Aug, 14, 1951 2,710,623 Kolos June 14-, 1955 2,721,580 Greer Oct. 25, 1955 2,731,028 McCord Jan. 17, 1956 2,801,067 Mercier July 30, 1957 2,829,401 Mercier Apr. 8, 1958 2,848,743 Mercier Aug. 26, 1958 2,875,976 Harwood Mar. 3, 1959 

